:: Miami
River Rapids Archeological Zone
2810-2916 NW South River Drive
Dates of Site: Tequesta Camp,A.D. 1400-1500; Ferguson Mill and Homestead,
ca. 1845-1852
Date Designated: 1990
a. Historic Sketch Map of the Falls of the Miami River drawn by F. H.
Gerdes, 1849.
This archeological zone contains the remains of a pre-Columbian Tequesta
camp or village and, on top of this, the ruins of the nineteenth-century
Ferguson starch mill and homestead. These two settlements were located
at the original rapids of the North Fork of the Miami River. Evidence
of the Tequesta settlement at this site includes pottery sherds, stone
flakes from the production of tools, and animal bones. Later, in the mid-nineteenth
century, George Washington Ferguson and Thomas Jefferson Ferguson established
their mill and homestead at this location. The mill employed 25 people
and was the largest commercial site in Dade County prior to the Civil
War. “Ferguson's Florida Arrow Root” was sold throughout the
United States until the mill was abandoned due to hostilities resulting
from the Third Seminole War.
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